Pink Lady Apple Galette with Sea Salt

I had to get out of the house the other day so I decided to take Myles to one of my favorite local bakeries. (A bakery, surprise surprise!) I have this rule that whenever I go out to eat with Myles, I put my phone away. This forces both of us, to people watch instead of stare at a screen and it is fantastic. While we were waiting for our breakfast, we saw a beautiful young woman waiting for her salad to be made.You know those women that just seem to always look so put together? They have a cup of coffee in their hand that you know they woke up early for after their yoga sesh? They’re fully clothed in real clothes like a sheer blouse with good pants and designer sunglasses? This was one of those women. She was on her cell, taking an important phone call and too busy to make eye contact with me - which was actually a "thank goodness" because Myles and I were trying to cram a chocolate croissant in our mouths and I'm sure it wasn't pretty. Her hair was curled, she was wearing makeup and she was a far cry from what I looked like at that moment.Pan to me, wearing spandex and a t-shirt with avocado smeared on my right boob that I didn’t catch before I left the house. (Thank you Myles). Also I'm wearing a hat that I just fished out of the gutter because my child took it off my head and threw it there and I was currently holding a hydro flask full of water from yesterday. (It’s still cold, so whatever.) I too am wearing a pair of sunglasses. They're bright yellow and blue and could very well be worth 4 dollars and belong to a 12 year old. (I'm pretty sure they're my brothers. He's 26.) I found them in my car. (Yup. Almost positive they're my brothers.) I’m actually surprised they fit my face. (Zach how do these fit your face?)No woman is better than the other.So that’s it. That’s all I wanted to say today.So often I catch myself thinking that because I have avocado smeared on my boob and I haven’t washed my hair in days that I’m less of a person than the more “put together” woman but I’m not.Yes, I used to have a career that allowed me to dress up really cute and wear shoes (that gave me horrific bunions) and I too, used to take very important phone calls.Now I wear tennis shoes and baseball caps and wipe poop and make pie.Er, but not in that order.

Just in case you needed some love today to remind yourself that you’re doing an amazing job at life, sweatpants or stilettos (but who wears those though really?), here it is. You are doing awesome. Maybe this was more of a note to myself than anyone else: Don't judge the woman who's all put together or the one who ran to the grocery store in her pajama bottoms, cause there's a chance you'll be seen as one of those women to another woman too. So whether you’re the fancy pants lady or the baseball cap wearing lady like me or somewhere in between, it doesn’t matter. Just do your thing, and know that we all go through phases of life where sometimes "we fancy” sometimes we’re not.This galette is somewhere in between fancy and not, and awesome, so, it's appropriate.Love you friends. xo

PINK LADY APPLE GALETTE

Here’s the thing about this galette, you kinda need to cut the apples pretty thin and then cook the apples for a bit until they’re somewhat soft, in order for this to be delicious. If the apple slices are too big and you don’t cook the apples long enough, this thing is gonna be bland, and we don't want that. Just trust me. I don’t want you to go through all that work just to create a beautiful but bland galette. Stick to thinly cut, cooked apples and you’ll be golden.

I also want to stress that we shouldn't stress here. It's a galette. It's rustic and inexact so roll with that. Use your taste and best judgement to make this one sing.

for the crust: (please note this makes enough crust for two galettes, so you can freeze one for later)

• 4 ½ cups / 540g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
• 1 ½ cups / 342g unsalted butter (cold, cut into ½ inch cubes (but don't stress about the size. If they're bigger than this, great, just try not to make them smaller than this))
• ⅓ cup / 74g ice water (ice cubes removed please note you might need a little more or a little less water depending on where you live and depending on the day. If you live in a higher altitude, you’re going to need a lot more water. If it’s a dry day, more water. If it’s a rainy day, humid day, less water… etc. Don't be afraid to be extremely inexact here.)

for the filling (please note this only makes enough filling for one galette)

• 2 tablespoons salted butter (or a little more if needed )
• ¼ cup 50g / sugar (or to taste, if you need a little more because you’re using tart apples, add a little more, if your apples are really sweet, add a little less. (see note about sugar in bakers notes too) )
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch or tapioca flour
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
• 4 whole pink lady apples (get a few more if they're on the small side) (cut thinly, peeled or not peeled, totally up to you (if you can't find pink lady apples, granny smith or fuji will work too. Just keep in mind a different apple won't provide the same pinkish color and granny smith may need a bit more sugar and fuji may need a little less. Taste and adjust!))
• 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)
• pinches of fine sea salt or kosher salt (while cooking the apples)

egg wash + finishing touches on the crust:

• 1 egg (lightly beaten to brush on the outside of the crust (you can use any size egg))
• 1-2 tablespoons cream or water (to mix with the egg for the egg wash )
• pinches of course sea salt (for sprinkling on top of the galette after it's baked)
• 1/2 cup 100g / turbinado or other course sugar (for sprinkling on the outside of crust )

FOR THE CRUST:

1. In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment or in a food processor with the dough attachment: gently mix the flour and salt. Then as the mixer continues to stir, gradually add the chunks of cold butter into the flour mixture. Mix until some of the butter and flour combine into blob-like-crumbs. Most people say that here, the blobs should resemble peas. To me, they don't need to be the size of peas, I actually prefer the blobs to be a mix of big and small blobs (see pictures above as a reference). We want big blobs here, so don't blend too much or too fast.
2. Once you have a blobby, crumb-like mess, slowly start to add your ice water. Now you can do this one of two ways: you can slowly add your ice water as your electric mixer continues to stir or you can pour the crumbly mess onto a clean surface and add the water little by little, working the dough with your hands until combined.
3. If you'd like to start by pouring some of the water in the mixer that's totally fine, but you will need to take the dough out once it barely starts to stick and finish kneading it by hand in order to ensure a really flaky dough. I STRONGLY encourage you to add the water completely by hand. I do this whole process by hand. It's a mess, but it's fun and gets the right texture every time.
4. Knead the dough by pressing the heel of your hand forward and kind of pinching it, and then doing this motion over again a few times. (See GIF as a reference) Knead until just combined. You should be able to see some white marbling of the butter throughout your dough.

5. Split your dough into two evenly sized disks and wrap each one tightly and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out. We'll just need one disk of dough here, so feel free to freeze the other one for another galette later.

6. Dough can be stored in the fridge tightly wrapped for up to 3 days, or stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. (Just bring dough to a chilled room temperature to use again.)

7. Once dough has been chilled, let it rest for 5 minutes before you roll each disk out into a 12-inch circle at about ⅜-inch thick. Don't stress about the exactness here. Galettes are rustic therefore not supposed to be exact. You just want a crust thick enough that it will hold the filling and not leak through. But not too think that it has trouble baking properly.

8. Bakers note: If you want you can roll out the galette dough completely before even making the filling, and let it rest already rolled in the fridge on a sheet pan lined with parchment. Just keep in mind you might want to transfer the dough to a room temperature sheet pan right before baking so it bakes evenly.

for the filling

1. Preheat oven to 375° F / 190° C and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. Melt butter in a large sautée pan over medium-high heat and add your apples to the pan. Stir to coat the apples with butter and cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. While the apples cook, whisk together the cinnamon, salt and ¼ cup sugar and then sprinkle this mixture over the apples, stirring to combine.

3. Lower your heat and continue to cook the apples until they start to soften, about 5-7 minutes. (Your house should smell amazing at this point.) Mix the corn starch or tapioca starch with your apple cider vinegar until starch dissolves and pour over your apples. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for another 5-10 minutes. If you cut your apples on the thick side, you'll need to cook your apples longer, if you cut them on the thin side, they'll need less time cooking. Take out a sample apple and taste it before you decide they're done. Apples should be soft, with a tiny bite and super flavorful.

4. Roll out galette dough into a 12” circle using a bit of flour and a rolling pin. Place rolled dough on a the parchment lined cookie sheet.

5. You don't want the apple filling tooo hot, so let it cool just ever so slightly (about 10 mins) before pouring onto your prepared crust.

   Pour apples in the middle of the crust, leaving about a 2-3 inch border. Fold the dough over the apples, leaving a “window” or opening where the apples still show. (See sweetish.co  for pictures as a reference. Search for the post “Really Simple Cherry Galette” While it IS a recipe for a cherry galette and not an apple one, the process is very much the same.)

6. To make the egg wash, beat egg with 1-2 tablespoons of cream in a small bowl until blended. Keep in mind you wont use all of the wash for this galette.

7. With a pastry brush, brush the exposed crust with the egg wash and then sprinkle liberally with the raw turbinado sugar. This just creates a wonderful sweet crunch to the crust.

8. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is slightly bubbly. Wait about 15-30 minutes before cutting into it if you can, if not, just be aware that the filling and juice is hot - which makes for a delicious pooling puddle of vanilla bean ice cream around it if that’s your thing. (It should be your thing right? ;)

Bakers tips:

On serving: You can easily serve this with creme fraiche, a drizzle of fresh cream, slightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Keep in mind that the sweetness of this galette all depends on the types of apples used. A galette made with pink lady apples or fuji is going to be sweeter than one made with granny smith. So serve your topping accordingly. ;) 

On cutting the apples:

Try cutting the apples with a mandoline to get them extra thin or use a very sharp knife like I did because I currently cannot find my mandoline. Remember you don't want the slices too thin or else they'll dissolve while cooked. 

Can I use brown sugar instead of granulated sugar? 

Yes. The only reason I chose granulated sugar was so we could still see the pink lady apples shine in their pinkness. If using a different type of apple (like granny smith) I would actually prefer brown sugar.